A Whisper of Blood: A Collection of Modern Vampire Stories by Ellen Datlow

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Synopsis

Not all vampires shun sunlight and not all drink blood. In A Whisper of Blood you will encounter thirty-five of the most horrifying vampires you are ever likely to meet: monsters who often walk by day, look and think very much like you, and differ from ordinary people primarily by the zeal with which they prey upon others. You won’t know them when you see them—and you may not even recognize their appetite for our destruction.

More insidious than the fanged bloodsuckers of folklore and film, these predators take their sustenance in unorthodox ways and victimize the vulnerable through the most unusual relationships:

• In “Carrion Comfort,” Dan Simmons reveals how psychic vampires with a taste for human suffering have shaped the course of tragic world events for centuries.
• In “The Sea Was Wet as Wet Can Be,” Gahan Wilson finds clues to a vampire feast in the seemingly harmless events chronicled in a classic children’s fantasy.
• “Mrs. Rinaldi’s Angel,” by Thomas Ligotti, describes how nightmares can parasitically drain the individual of strength and will.
• In “Warm Man,” Robert Silverberg relates the experiences of an overly empathetic entity who discovers a limit to the amount of human misery he can absorb.
• David J. Schow’s “A Week in the Unlife” presents a vampire hunter of dubious repute as the ultimate vampire, with a need to feed on our fear of vampires.

How do you protect yourself against vampires who don’t play by the usual rulesand who can’t be vanquished with the traditional stake and cross? Read these modern horror tales and learn the scary truth about vampires for whom blood is not enough.

Biography

Ellen Datlow is one of the most respected anthologists of modern fantasy and science fiction. The former fiction editor of Omni magazine, Event Horizon, and SciFiction.com, she is a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award. Since 1988 she has coedited The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her more than thirty other anthologies include Little Deaths, Lethal Kisses, Twists of the Tale, The Dark, and Inferno.